Photographer’s Light Box

My Hobby

My hobby is photography, specifically I like to do still life photography and add mood and character to an image. A little like a movie set or stage set for a theater.

None of these sets exists in real life. In the theater world a set designer takes his or her input from the screenplay and from the director and produces a visual interpretation of both.

Artisans then take the design concept and build a believable set, in 3d. And that’s essentially what I do. But I combine all the skills into one, director, set designer, artisans – they are all me.

My Photography

So I get to create a scene, as props, create the mood I like. Then photograph it. The photography is another skill which we have to learn. But for me it’s more about working with light and specifically how the camera records it.

Our eyes are incredible, they adjust to different levels of light and different color balance, automatically. And even though the lighting might not look right when you set it up, it will look perfect in the final photographic image.

The Lightbox

Sometimes the scene I want to create is small and although I have a homemade studio in the basement. The lighting and softboxes, it’s overkill. I just need a miniature studio. Like the ones here Photographer’s Light Box.

These photo light boxes are ideal. Simple to set up and easy to use. They normally come as a cube, about 18 inches each side. But this was too restrictive for me so I went for a bigger photo light box. Mine is three feet square. I find that this gives me enough space to be creative but isn’t too big so that it becomes cumbersome.

It goes without saying that you need a good camera and lenses, a tripod and shutter release. These, along with the photo lightbox, all work together to create that beautiful image.